Nabonidus 01

1i-ti-it “selected by”: The expected form is itût, not itīt. For other references to the vowel change of u to i in the inscriptions of Nabonidus, see Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids p. 129. sa-niq mit-ḫur-tú “who controls (cosmic) harmony”: Ex. 1 (collation from the photograph on CDLI) clearly has sa-niq, not ÍL (as copied in Legrain, PBS 15 pl. 33 no. 80). It is unclear if ex. 2 (Al-Rawi, ARRIM 9 [1991] pp. 5–8 and fig. 4) has ÍL or sa-niq since there is a discrepancy between F.N.H. Al-Rawi’s copy and transliteration; the copy, which has ÍL, is tentatively assumed here to be wrong.

2iš-da-a-šu i-nu-šu-ma i-qu-pu i-ga-ru-šu “its foundations had become shaky, its walls had buckled”: Ex. 2 has DAL.BA.AN.NA KÁ.GAL ^dAMAR.UTU ù KÁ.GAL ^dza-ba₄-ba₄ “between the Gate of the god Marduk and the Gate of the god Zababa.” Based on this variant, H. Schaudig (Inschriften Nabonids p. 76 §I.7.d) thinks that this might refer to an earlier phase of the restoration of Babylon’s wall, which was carried out only between the Marduk and Zababa Gates. Ex. 3 has [DAL.BA.AN.NA KÁ.GAL ^dAMAR.UTU] ⸢ù⸣ KÁ.GAL ^dza-ba₄-ba₄ / [iš-da-a-šu i-nu-šu-ma] ⸢i⸣-qu-up-pu i-ga-ru-šu “[between the Gate of the god Marduk] and the Gate of the god Zababa, its foundations had become shaky, its walls had buckled” and, thus, is likely an intermediary version of the text.

3Compare the description of Nabopolassar’s renovation of Babylon’s inner wall Imgur-Enlil, which is known from A Babylon 11 ii 6–iii 10 (Da Riva, SANER 3 pp. 94–95), especially ii 8–12, which have im-gur-^dEN.LÍL BÀD ra-ba-a šá ba-bi-lim.KI ⸢BULUG⸣ reš-ta-a šá iš-tu ṣa-a-tim šu-pu-ú ki-sur-ra-a šu-úr-šu-du ša la-bar du-úr UD.MEŠ ki-in-na-a zaq-ru šá šit-nu-nu šá-ma-mi tuk-šu dan-nu e-di-il pi-i KUR a-a-bi “Imgur-Enlil — the great wall of Babylon, the original boundary marker which has been manifest since the distant past, the firmly-founded ground plan that has endured for all eternity, the high mountain that rivals the heavens, the strong shield that bolts the entrance to the land of enemies.”

4UŠ.20.TA.A “20 UŠ (7,200 m)”: UŠ is a unit measuring length, but its precise linguistic interpretation is uncertain since the sections of the lexical series Ea (Tablet VI) and Aa dealing with UŠ are missing. According to M. Powell (RLA 7/5–6 [1989] pp. 459 and 465–467 § I.2k), one UŠ equals 6 ropes, 12 ṣuppu, 60 nindan-rods, 120 reeds, and 720 cubits, that is, approximately 360 m. According to this inscription of Nabonidus, Imgur-Enlil measured UŠ.20.TA.A “20 UŠ,” which would be approximately 7,200 m (= 360 m × 20). A. George (BTT pp. 135–136) has demonstrated that the actual length of Imgur-Enlil in the Neo-Babylonian period was 8,015 m.

5ki-na-a-ta “stability”: The reading of the first sign as KI, rather than TE, is confirmed from collation of ex. 1 (CBS 16108); note that Al-Rawi’s copy of ex. 2 (A Babylon 10) also clearly has KI. The confusion in scholarly literature stems from Legrain’s copy of CBS 16108 in PBS 15 (pl. 33 no. 80), where the sign could be read as either TE or KI; this misreading is followed by the CAD (see CAD U p. 291b), despite the correct reading in Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids (p. 347).

6tu-uk-šu da-núm e-di-il pa-ni a-a-bi “the strong shield that bolts (Babylon) before enemies”: Compare A Babylon 11 ii 12 (Da Riva, SANER 3 pp. 94–95), which has tuk-šu dan-nu e-di-il pi-i KUR a-a-bi “the strong shield that bolts the entrance to the land of enemies.”

7LUGAL maḫ-ri “a former king”: It is certain that the unnamed former king is none other than Nabopolassar. The identification is based on the fact that ex. 2 (A Babylon 10) was discovered in a clay foundation box together with two cylinders of Nabopolassar: A Babylon 11 and A Babylon 12. For details on the discovery, see Abdul-Razak, Sumer 35 (1979) p. 116 and Al-Rawi, Iraq 47 (1985) p. 8; and, for editions of the two Nabopolassar inscriptions, see Da Riva, SANER 3 pp. 50–54 (ex. 2) and 93–104.

8ša iš^*-ta^*-na-at-tu-ú mé-e nag-bi “wherever they drink spring water”: Literally “who drink spring water.” The translation provided here tentatively follows H. Schaudig (Inschriften Nabonids p. 350 “wo immer sie ihr Wasser trinken mögen”). This passage seems to imply that (remote) minor rulers, men who drank from (distant) fresh water springs, were subordinate to Nabonidus.